Born on 12 January 1884 in Waco, Mary Louise Cecilia "Texas" Guinan played a gun-slinger and rode bareback in silent films, took New York by storm in 1906, and earned a salary of $700,000 as a speakeasy hostess. Here are highlights from a life led at full speed until 5 November 1933. Meet TEXAS GUINAN!

Tuesday, November 17, 2015

Texas Guinan: Reginald Marsh

TEXAS GUINAN, in the midst of merriment, was captured by this artist.• • Syracuse.com wrote: Collector Edward Root acquired this painting by Reginald Marsh (1898—1954) titled "Texas Guinan and Her Gang," (1931) in the early 1930s. Marsh was drawn to the colorful debauchery of New York City's underbelly. He said, "Well-bred people are no fun to paint."

• • Texas Guinan image: Photo courtesy of the Everson Museum of Art/John Taylor; Tempera on linen, 36 1/8 x 48 inches.• • Syracuse.com explained: Edward Wales Root (1884—1956), a great collector of contemporary American art during the first half of the last century would probably concur with those words if he were still with us. Root, who lived most of his life in Clinton, NY, amassed an enormous collection of more than 200 works of art over 50-plus years. He collected from the early 1900s to mid-century — — and his collection captures much of the dynamism that characterized that period of American art.• • Note: Born in Paris in 1898, Reginald Marsh was an American painter notable for his depictions of life in New York City during the 1920s and 1930s. He died in Vermont in 1954.• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• • The legal battles fought by Mae West and Jim Timony are dramatized in the play "Courting Mae West: Sex, Censorship, and Secrets," set during the Prohibition Era. Texas Guinan is in some scenes, too.Watch a scene on YouTube.• • Website for all things Mae West —http://MaeWest.blogspot.com